Overview
- The Senate Banking Committee, which released a revised 309-page draft Monday, set a Thursday markup to debate amendments and vote on advancing the CLARITY Act.
- The draft draws a line between regulators by leaving most token sales with the SEC and putting most trading and digital commodity oversight with the CFTC, and it keeps protections for non-custodial DeFi developers while clarifying intent standards so prosecutors can still pursue criminal cases.
- The bill bars passive interest on payment stablecoins yet allows narrowly defined rewards tied to use such as payments or platform activity, which would change how customers earn perks and could limit bank-like offerings on exchanges.
- Banking trade groups warned senators that the rewards compromise could drain deposits and urged tighter limits, as more than 100 amendments landed ahead of the vote including tougher stablecoin tests and conflict-of-interest rules for public officials.
- Even if the bill clears committee, senators must merge it with the Agriculture panel’s version and find roughly 60 votes on the floor, with unresolved ethics demands from Democrats and a White House goal of a July 4 signature shaping the path ahead.